Later that night, at 742 Evergreen Terrace, the Simpsons hear a strange noise outside like something falling from the sky. Marge then hears something glugging and belching downstairs. Homer and Bart decide to go to the basement and investigate. Homer decides to send Santa's Little Helper down to see what's down there, but the dog runs away. He then tries the same thing with Bart, but this does not work either. Homer decides to set a trap, using Bart as bait. Down in the basement, Bart sees a shadowy figure opening up a can of Duff. Homer whacks at the shadowy figure with a broom and reveals the shadowy figure to be Bender, who reveals he is from the future. Homer decides to take this futuristic visitor to his "civic leaders".

At Moe's, Bender guzzles down several mugs of beer and "buys" several rounds for the patrons. Homer considers Bender his new friend, and Bender reveals that's the reason he's there..."for all you know". Bender then hangs out with the guys at Barney's Bowlarama, where Bender cheats a perfect game.

The next day, Bart and Lisa observe Homer and Bender sleeping on the couch and cannot help but pinpoint the similarities between the two. Lisa starts to doubt that Bender is actually from the future, since robotic technology is relatively advanced. So Lisa takes Bender to Professor Frink's laboratory. Bender admits that he does not recall why he was sent to the present, so Frink unplugs and replugs Bender's mission protocol, causing Bender to reveal his mission is to terminate Homer Simpson.

Homer is upset that his new bowling buddy wants to kill him. Bender admits he cannot do it. Lisa assumes that it is due to Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, but Bender denies this, claiming he killed Asimov on the way. Suddenly, Bender's ass begins ringing and a hologram of Leela appears asking if he killed Homer yet. Bender claims he did, but Leela shows that an enormous number of rabbit-shaped creatures has invaded New New York and are multiplying. Leela catches Bender's lie. Fry also encourages Bender to kill Homer. Lisa asks why, and the professor replies that the creatures have Homer's D.N.A.. Hermes panics that they are grabbing all of the office supplies. Even Zoidberg speaks his only line. The professor elaborates that Bender was sent back to kill Homer before the creatures could evolve from him. So, the professor, Leela, and Fry go into the past to kill Homer themselves. Leela attempts to shoot him with her ray-gun, but Bender bends it. Frink offers a team-up with the professor, who suggests Homer take the rest out so he can explain "freemium games".

While walking through Springfield, Homer, Fry, Leela, and Bender pass by a Panucci's Pizza where Seymour is inexplicably waiting. When they get to the house, Homer introduces Marge to Fry and Leela. Marge and Leela attempt to exchange pleasantries while avoiding talking about the other one's tall blue hair and one eyeball respectively.

Back at the lab, Lisa asks the professor if he got to the present through a time machine, but the professor denies this. The professor explains they came through a portal which they equipped to Bender. He reveals that Bender, however, came here through a time machine. Just as Lisa is about to question this, the D.N.A. sample the professors were working on completes.

When the professor, Frink, and Lisa get to the house, the professor reveals that the D.N.A. was only *half* Homer's, with the other half belonging to Marge. The professor says they do not have to kill Marge, just one of her children. Bender's ass shows a hologram of Channel √2 News, where Morbo reports that the creatures started evolving. One of the rabbits eats Linda and transforms into a lizard-like creature that resembles Bart. Frink wonders how Bart destroyed the future. Bart reveals, through a sepia-toned flashback, that when he put his sandwich in the time capsule, it touched Milhouse's lucky rabbit's foot and the toxic ooze in the hole touched the items in the time capsule mutating them into rabbit-like creatures with Bart's D.N.A.. Lisa suggests they dig up the time capsule.

The Simpsons and the Planet Express crew arrive in the town square to dig up the capsule, but Groundskeeper Willie forbids them from doing so, since it cannot be opened for another thousand years. Bender's ass then shows a hologram of Amy, who assumes the creatures got a hold of Scruffy, but Scruffy reveals they only got his mustache. Since Scruffy figures life is not worth living without his mustache, he shoots his own head off. They see in the hologram that the creatures have destroyed the portal, and Bender sucks the crew and the Simpsons to the year 3014. Marge does a head count and realizes they left Maggie behind. Bender decides to take Maggie to the race track since he knows the outcome of every single horse race in this time.

In the future, the Simpsons all hang out at the Planet Express headquarters. Homer kills all of the Bart creatures by strangling them. Marge is discouraged that they cannot go back to their own time. Marge notes that Homer works at a nuclear power plant. When asked if he is good at his job, Homer takes pride in the fact that he was named "Employee of the Month" for April Fools' Day. The professor suggests that Fry and Homer fix the portal while the rest pray. Nibbler attempts to eat one of the creatures, but instead of pooping dark matter, he merely poops out another Bart creature. Lisa is surprised everyone has given up. The professor then proposes they shoot all the creatures into space. Lisa says she will round them up.

Back in Springfield, Bender bets on a horse named Bender's Bounty, even though he died during the race. When the horse starts to lose, Bender obliterates it in anger.

In New New York, Lisa tricks the Bart creatures into believing that Madison Cube Garden is full of Butterfinger bars and also annoys them by playing a saxophone version of a holophonor showing images of things she likes such as unicorns and kitty cats. Hermes locks all of the creatures into the cube and the Planet Express ship lifts the cube up and hurls it into space, to the excitement of the crew and Lisa, and to the discouragement of Bart.

Reconstruction begins in New New York and Fry and Homer successfully reactivate the portal, which sucks the Simpsons back to their present-day home. Marge is happy to be reunited with Maggie, and notices her diaper is full. Bender volunteers to change it, revealing the diaper is full of money he won at the races. Bender bids the Simpsons farewell and shuts himself off to be awakened a thousand years later. Homer drags the robot to the basement, but also pours him one more can of Duff.

Back in the year 3014, it is revealed that the creatures ended up on Omicron Persei 8. Lrrr and Ndnd are both annoyed that the creatures are destroying the planet, especially since "the Johnsons" are coming. "The Johnsons" turn out to be Kang and Kodos. Ndnd runs away sobbing and Lrrr asks "the one of [them] that is female" to console her, as both Kang and Kodos comfort her. The episode ends with a Simpsonized-version of the Futuramaopening sequence.

Futurama is such an easy fit. (...) It's really funny, and their show lends itself to any variety of plot lines. By having them on, we have a little freedom... The biggest thrill for me is that we don't have to adjust the animation style. [1]

On 21 May, Jean revealed through Twitter that the episode was "scheduled to be the first episode [to air] in November", [7] suggesting an air date of 2 November. The first episode to air in November was actually "Opposites A-Frack".

On 4 September, Entertainment Weekly published an online article revealing the first official image of the episode and also provided more information on the episode's plot. [11]

On 6 September, Jean confirmed through Twitter that the Futurama characters would retain their normal skin tones in the crossover instead of being coloured yellow like the characters in The Simpsons. [12]

On 9 September, Lisa Simpson's voice actor, Yeardley Smith, spoke about the interaction between Lisa and Bender during the crossover in an interview with Nuke the Fridge. She said: "Lisa just questions the validity of Bender being one of the most advanced robots that we have ever created. She's like, "Really? I don't think so." But that episode really focuses on Bender and Homer's friendship and relationship, and the similarities, a dubious distinction if I do say so." [13]

The shot of one of the promotional pictures for the episode is not used.

Despite being the central character of the series, Fry has only four lines in this episode. Hermes, Zoidberg, Amy, and Scruffy each have only one line, with the bulk of dialogue belonging to Bender, the professor, and Leela.

A promotional picture for the episode, featuring Fry, Bender, and Leela with Homer Simpson, in Professor Frink's laboratory. [18]

When the characters are sucked back into the future, a February 3014 calendar featuring a photo of the professor with long hair and in a swimsuit can be seen. The photo resembles American actressFarrah Fawcett's iconic 1976 poster.

This poster was previously referenced in "Neutopia" (also written by J. Stewart Burns) and in "Overclockwise".

Lisa lures the Bart creatures to Madison Cube Garden by claiming that there are Butterfinger bars inside. This is a reference to the Simpsons once being the spokescharacters for the candy bar in the past with the slogan "nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger".

In the end credits, Simpsons guest star Sally Stevens is credited for singing "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and "I Will Wait for You". However, her vocals are only heard in the former. The latter is heard instrumentally.

The professor: [to Marge] We don't have to kill *you*.[Marge sighs.]Marge: Well, *that's* better.The professor: We just have to kill all your children.

[Lisa snaps her fingers.]Lisa: That's it! All we have to do is dig up the time capsule!Leela: And bury Bart in the hole!Marge: I thought people in the future would be more full of peace and love. Like in Epcot Center.Leela: In our time, Epcot Center is a work farm for the weak.The professor: Oh, but it's not as crowded as the slave-labour camps at Universal Studios.Marge: [scared] Hmmm...